FAITH CAPSULE: To fear God is to love Him; to love God is to serve Him.

Ezra 5

Enemy can delay, but will never be able to deny the move of God in our life. When the children of Israel began to face stiff opposition at all levels, their rebuilding project of the temple ceased. However, it did not take forever before construction resumed. The attempt of their adversaries to terminate the effort to rebuild could not prevail forever, but only delayed for a period of time. The children of Israel could not be denied because their God was over them. Indeed and in truth, He that is above is above all and none of His will can be terminated. The Word of God testified the reason why the children of Israel could not be interrupted, “But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so that they could not make them cease till a report could go to Darius…” (Ezra 5:5) When the eye of God is upon man, it makes man to become a force which no evilprevails agenda. Can you tell if the eye of God is upon you? Are you taking a conscious step that calls for God’s eye to be upon you? Gaining understanding of what it takes to have God’s eye upon you would be a help.

It is written in the Book of Psalm, “Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine.” (Psalm 33:18-19) God does nothing by accident because He is a perfect God. It is clear that provoking His eye to be upon us is directly rooted in fearing Him. To fear God is to love Him; to love God is to serve Him. How much of His fear do you have in you? We do not fear God by mouth, but by the way we live in the word of His mouth. Fearing God will not happen by determination, but by the Spirit of God. Determination failed Peter after promising not to deny Jesus three times before the cock crowed. Peter eventually denied Jesus three times. The Word of God states, “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.” (Jeremiah 32:38-40) God is the one who will put His fear in our heart. Do you desire His fear?

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace for His  fear to reign and rule your life.

FAITH CAPSULE: Whenever fear hits the target, faith will sink in the life of its target for failure to reign.

Psalm 34

King David declared, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4) It was made known that Psalm 34 is a psalm that was written to celebrate his escape from Abimelech the King of Gath. Evidently, King David had fear at the time he was facing the challenges of Abimelech but he overcame when he sought the Lord. Are you facing any challenge that commands fear from you? One can look into how David sought the Lord to overcome his challenge. Psalm 34:1-3, “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.” Clearly David took four steps that delivered him from the fear of his enemy.

First, David blessed the Lord at all times. Blessing the name of God with all our soul and all that is within us is a fear terminator. Blessing the Lord while referring and testifying to all He has done is a way of deliverance from the fear of the enemy. David blesses the name of the Lord at all times.
Second, praising God was not an occasionally engagement for him. David continually praised God and praising God continually is praising Him with understanding.
The third approach of David was making boast of the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24 declared what it means to boast in the Lord, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.”” Boasting in the Lord was among David’s avenue into his deliverance from the fear of his enemies.
The fourth approach of King David was magnifying the name of the Lord. King David mentioned what it takes to magnify the name of the Lord in Psalm 69:30 when he stated, “…I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.”

By virtue of all his testimonies, he was delivered from the fear of Abimelech the King of Gath. The Bible is written for our learning if we would take to the word for our use. In every confronting challenge, fear always represents the enemy’s first shot at his target. Whenever fear hits the target, faith will sink in the life of its target for failure to reign. Learn from David’s approach and overcome fear.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be bold in the word of God.

FAITH CAPSULE: A failure to hear and see in the word is the evidence of not rising to one’s deliverance and preservation.

Exodus 14

God has not stopped speaking to us through His living word in the pages of the bible if we will listen to hear, see and rise in His word. After the separation of Abraham and Lot, God said to Abraham, “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” (Genesis 13:14-15) The word of God is living. His word is not just a letter it gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6) When it sounds in our direction and we are able to see the spoken word and rise to what is being said to us, we are set to shine for the glory of God. God will always bring His word to pass and we should always arise and see in the word so as to receive and shine in His word. The word of God is light. Today, if you will hear and see in His light, rise and embrace the light of God which cannot be hidden you shall shine for His glory. The word of God should be like a mirror which we need to look into for us to see what is being said for our direction to deliverance and preservation. A failure to hear and see in the word is the evidence of not rising to one’s deliverance and preservation.

The Israelites came out of the bondage of over four hundred years but yet Pharaoh closed them up at the Red Sea. As a result, fear took over, negative confession flow out of their mouth, “Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:11-12)  The Israelites were trapped with no way out for their escape. At that juncture of their life, there was a need for them to see God in action. Moses spoke the word of God, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:13-14) In hearing the word of God they were able to see and rise to access deliverance from Pharaoh. Evidently, God fought their battle and they never saw the Egyptians forever as promised in the living word of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to always hear and see in His word of deliverance and preservation.

FAITH CAPSULE: Like Joseph, have you been called and sent by God without you knowing?

Genesis 41

When God calls to send you, self-control shall be out of one’s own control.
When He called Joseph, he became a slave; he could no longer move at his own will or control. He came under obedience to authority he could not control. When He calls, one will enter a position to learn the kind of obedience which adds humility to one. Jesus, our Lord and savior learned obedience through the things which He suffered for. (Hebrews 5:8) When He sends you, there will be the experience of chain, pain and iron that restricts one’s move.

When He sends you, there is no control over time and timing in your journey. The time to journey through and get to the center of one’s divine assignment is in the hand of God. It does not matter how long it takes nothing interferes with His timing. The Bible pointed it out that until the time God’s words came to pass for Joseph, there was no way out for Joseph. Joseph began journey at age 17 (Genesis 37:2) and time to complete was at age 30 (Genesis 41:42)
When one is answering to the calling of God, one becomes timeless. Joseph’s attempt to come out before God’s time was a failure. Joseph attempted to come out when he pleaded to the butler (whom he interpreted his dream) to remember Him for help. Butler failed at Joseph’s expectation until God’s appointed time. (Genesis 40:12-15)

All that which represents failure; delay; mockery; stagnation; embarrassment; ridicule; to be lied against are passages in the journey of life which leads to the center of divine assignment. Those passages are also testimonies which enhance one’s assignment in life. In Joseph’s calling, the bible repeatedly identified the source of Joseph’s empowerment to the center of his assignment stating, “But the Lord was Joseph and showed him mercy and He gave favor” (Genesis 39:210)

Just like Joseph, have you been called and sent by God without knowing that you are in journey to the center of your divine assignment? God is ever faithful to back the called ones up in their journey.
Test which comes along in the journey to one’s center of divine assignment is what will give birth to a glorious testimony in the life of ones that faithfully remain faithful by looking up and trusting God for direction in their journey. Joseph did not know what was transpiring in his life from the start of his journey. As much as he was a man that dreams or interpreted dream, there was no iota of understand or idea of where he was going and how to get there. More so, noting testified that he rebel or engage complaint against God through his journey.
Joseph kept his pace and his peace could not be altered and he arrived at his center of divine assignment.

Prayer for today: Ask that you will not walk where you need to run and not run where you need to walk.

FAITH CAPSULE: He will never leave you broken if you answer faithfully.

Genesis 37

When God calls to send one, one becomes a candidate for His blessing.His calling will break you at the initial stage but will no doubt turn to blessing when obedient is in place.The ones He breaks are meant to be blessed. His breaking comes along with blessing. (Jesus broke and blessed the bread of life) He will never leave you broken if you answer faithfully. When He calls help will be in place if the called one makes the choice not to look away from His help.
The calling of God does not come without challenges (challenges that are enough to cause the called one to crumble comes along with calling) Regardless of challenges, there is promise to see he called one through in His calling. The word of God promised in 1Thessalonian 5:24, “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

When God calls you, He will set you up and He will back you up to arrive at the center of your divine assignment if you will focus on His faithfulness. When God calls there be no prior arrangement; there be no announcement before calling; there be no baggage to hinder or slow down one’s move. Above all, in His calling, breaking comes before blessing. God called Joseph and he was broken before he was blessed. Joseph was answering to the calling upon his life without knowing that he was.

At age 17, Joseph was answering to Jacob’s (his father) errand when he entered the path to his center of divine assignment. Jacob spoke to Joseph, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.” (Genesis 37:14) From the moment Joseph went answering to Jacob’s errand he wandered into the journey of his life without prior preparation or idea of what he was getting into.

The book of Psalm 105:17-22 shed light on the truth that Joseph’s journey was an answer to God’s plan and purpose without his knowing. Joseph had no preparation that takes him into his journey. It is written, “He sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. The king sent and released him, the ruler of the people let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his elders wisdom.”
God is awesome by virtue of the operation of His hand. Have you been called with you knowing? Your calling shall come and God shall back you up.

Prayer for today: This month, God will cause you to rise and you shall have a change of position which glorifies God over your life.